The unseen blushers

"The Unseen Blushers" by Alfred Bester is a science fiction story that takes place at a writer's luncheon, focusing on the life and troubles that pulp fiction writers go through. It’s a funny peek into the writing life, and it looks at creativity and how stories get made. The main character, Dugan, shares a confusing story about a time machine designed to find a "new Shakespeare." The other writers poke holes in his idea, but the real mystery is Dugan himself, who acts strangely and carries a weird device. The story amps up when the reader learns that Dugan may not be who he says, and it becomes hard to tell where fiction ends and reality begins, culminating in the protagonist linking Dugan’s account to his own, suggesting that what he thought was fiction is indeed reality.